Lego Versions of Famous Artworks

David Griner in Adweek.



Late last year, Italian designer Marco Sodano received global praise for his creative pixelation of famous paintings remade with Legos. At the time, he said he wanted to convey "the belief that every child with Lego can become a great artist like Da Vinci and Vermeer."

Reprint on the iPolitics website (20)

Thursday's cartoon in Le Droit was reprinted on the iPolitics website.

Droodles

One of Price's original Droodles serves as the cover art for Frank Zappa's 1982 album.

Droodles was a syndicated cartoon feature created by Roger Price and collected in his 1953 book Droodles. The trademarked name "Droodle" is a nonsense word suggesting "doodle", "drawing" and "riddle."

Their general form is minimal: a square box containing a few abstract pictorial elements with a caption (or several) giving a humorous explanation of the picture's subject.

Here are a few classics:

Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue (1)

From Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Exploring Calvin and Hobbes is the catalogue for an exhibit by the same name at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum at Ohio State University, which opened in March 2014. The exhibit is Bill Watterson's personal exploration of how the wonder of Calvin and Hobbes came to be. It includes original art of Calvin and Hobbes, along with Watterson's original commentary on each. The show will also include art from cartoonists who Watterson has identified as influential in the development of his art, including Peanuts, Pogo, Krazy Kat, Doonesbury, Pat Oliphant, Jim Borgman, Flash Gordon, Bloom County, and Ralph Steadman.

 The Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum and Library is the repository of the Bill Watterson Deposit Collection (including the entirety of Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes artwork).

2014 National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award Winners

From Mike Lynch Cartoons.

Drawing by Ed Steckley

Here is the list of winners from the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Awards ceremony held May 24, 2014 in San Diego, CA.

Canadian Editorial Cartoonists meet in Cuba

From Graeme Mackay's blog.

An excerpt:

The housing crisis, the occupy movement, and the Obamacare mess have provided Cubans a front row seat to view the parade of pitfalls of capitalism and the widening gap between the super rich and the growing poor. Today’s hardships have darkened the once colourful picture Cubans had of the USA, making people I met wonder how pathetically desperate fellow countrymen must be to board rafts bound for the the shores of Florida in the 21st century.

Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan

From David Cowles.

Andy Donato named to Italian Walk of Fame

Shawn Jeffords in The Toronto Sun.

Toronto Sun Editor-in-Chief Wendy Metcalfe, editorial cartoonist Andy Donato and Publisher Mike Power at the Italian Walk of Fame induction Wednesday, May 28, 2014. 

Toronto Sun legend Andy Donato can add a new accolade to his already impressive list of accomplishments.Donato will be inducted into the Italian Walk of Fame on May 28 with a special ceremony and celebratory dinner.

"The Art of Richard Thompson"

From Amazon.

Known for being the creator of the comic strip Cul de Sac, Richard Thompson's art prowess extends to many other levels.

Richard Thompson is renowned among cartoonists as an "artist's" cartoonist. Little known to all but those close to him is the extent of his art talent. This is the book that will enlighten the rest of us and delight us with the sheer beauty of his work.

Divided into six sections, each beginning with an introductory conversation between Thompson and six well-known peers, including Bill Watterson, the book will present Thompson's illustration work, caricatures, and his creation, Richard's Poor Almanac. Each section is highly illustrated, many works in color, most of them large and printed one-to-a-page. The diversity of work will help cast a wider net, well beyond Cul de Sac fans.

Here are a few drawings I hope we will find when the book comes out in the fall:

A review of "The Complete Cul de Sac"

Alan gardner in The Daily Cartoonist.

Looking at this box set, I can’t help but feel a bit cheated that there are only two volumes. It’s not that anyone cut corners or exaggerated the word “complete”. On the contrary, it is THE complete collection – including the Cul de Sac strips that ran in the Washington Post before it went into syndication and the strips by guest cartoonists who stepped in when Richard was dealing with his Parkinson’s disease. 

New York Post drops their comics page

From Jim Romonesko's blog.

“Is it true that the @nypost dropped the comics page?” tweeted @Tomversation. “I mean it was only about 7 comics and not a full page, all small and in b&w, but still.”

Yes, Tom, it’s true.

Our Editorial Cartoonists in Havana

Andrew Dreschel in The Hamilton Spectator.

Some 28 cartoonists from across Canada are flying today to Havana, Cuba, for a five- day meeting of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists (ACEC), their professional organization that has about 60 active members.

An interview with Tom Gauld

From du9, l'autre bande dessinée.

The past two years have seen the publication of his first full-fledged graphic novel Goliath and a collection of his Guardian cartoons You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack -- indeed, Tom Gauld has been particularly busy, and yet still manages to remain incredibly funny. And very, very British.

The full-length interview with Xavier Guilbert  here and a few pages from his sketchbook after the fold:

Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2014

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2014 @ Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St., May 10-11

Drawing For Peace

From Euronews.

The Swiss foundation “Cartooning for Peace” has honoured Syria-Palestinian Hani Abbas and Egyptian Doaa Eladl for their work. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan handed them the international award for press cartoonists in Geneva, as part of World Press Day.

Save World Press Cartoon Sintra

Rafaella Spinazzi has posted on her blog a letter protesting the cancellation of the World Press Cartoon competition and exhibition, created by famed Portuguese cartoonist Antonio Antunes and held in Sintra, Portugal for the last 10 years.

Here is the letter:

14th World Press Freedom International Editorial Cartoon Competition (Results)

Grand Prize: Bruce MacKinnon, Canada

The jury, composed of Jennifer Ditchburn, Roderick Macdonell and Guy Badeaux, met on April 8, 2014 to select the winners of the 14th World Press Freedom International Editorial Cartoon Competition.

Richard Thompson Annotates "The Complete Cul de Sac"

Alex Dueben in Comic Book Resources.

Richard Thompson was considered one of the great living cartoonists when he announced that he was ending his strip "Cul de Sac" in 2012 because of complications with Parkinson's disease. Though it was never one of the most popular comic strips, "Cul de Sac" had a passionate fanbase, including other cartoonists, who awarded him the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Now the entire strip has been collected in a two-volume slipcased edition from Andrews McMeel Publishing, which will be released in May with an introduction by Art Spiegelman.